1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for releasably fixing a guide rail of a drawer slide to a drawer, the guide rail extending in a longitudinal direction and having a support surface for the drawer, the guide rail defining an opening, which comprises a base plate mountable on the drawer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known devices of this type comprise a detent engageable by the guide rail opening, a hand grip attached to the detent, and an adjustment wedge connected to the base plate and adjustable in the longitudinal direction for insertion between the support surface of the guide rail and the drawer for positioning the drawer in a desired position in which the detent engages the opening and the hand grip being operable to release the detent from the opening. Such devices are usually mounted at the front end of the drawer bottom and behind a front plate of the drawer. They enable the drawer to be released from the guide rail and thus from the slide mechanism which enables the drawer to be pulled out and retracted, in cooperation with a snap connection attaching a rear end of the guide rail with the drawer or with a hook on the guide rail engaging an opening in the drawer bottom. In this way, the drawer may be separated from the slide mechanism and may be used by itself, and drawer slide mechanisms may be used in which the guide rails and their guides cannot be simply separated. It thus becomes possible to fix the drawer slide mechanism in the corpus and then to attach the drawer thereto. Preferably, such devices are arranged mirror-symmetrically at the left and right sides of the drawer.
A multi-part structure of this type has been disclosed in German utility model No. 9,204,845, whose registration was published on Jul. 30, 1992. This device comprises a number of parts, including a base plate usually made of sheet metal and a guide housing for a detent and guides for an adjustment wedge, with the necessary holes for fixing screws. The pivotal detent is mounted on the base plate in the guide housing and is supported with its free end in the guide housing. This is necessary because the vertical pivoting axis of the detent must be transversely spaced from the guide rail to be attached so that a pull on the drawer causes pivoting of the detent and could cause the detent to be disengaged from the guide rail. A separate synthetic resin spring biases the detent into the locking position, and the detent is released by a separately mounted hand grip. The adjustment wedge may be adjusted by a Phillips screw driver engaging a rack of its guide. The positioning of the adjustment wedge relative to the base plate is not accurately defined, which means that the adjustment wedge for assembling of the guide rail with the drawer is adjusted according to the individual need, being held in position between the drawer bottom and the support surface of the guide rail only by the wedging effect. Each removal of the drawer from the slide mechanism then requires a new individual adjustment, which causes difficulties for unskilled users. In addition, the many parts of the device involve high manufacturing costs, and each assembly involves a number of adjustments before the assembly of the guide rail and the drawer can be completed.
In the device of German utility model No. 9,300,260, whose registration was published on Apr. 15, 1993, the base plate forms an integral shaped part of synthetic resin with the detent, the hand grip and the adjustment wedge. The detent and the hand grip as well as the adjustment wedge are connected to the base plate by elastically flexible webs, the detent with its web and the adjustment wedge being arranged sequentially in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, and the guide rail abutting a mounting flange of the base plate for the front plate of the drawer, which mounting flange rises from the base plate and laterally protrudes from the detent arrangement. The detent engages the guide rail near the mounting flange. Accordingly, the adjustment wedge is arranged at a substantial distance from the front plate of the drawer and the detent, and may be pivotally pressed between the drawer bottom and the guide rail about its connecting webs from the same side as the detent. To secure the adjustment wedge in different engagement positions, it may have protruding stops for cooperation with stops protruding from a vertical portion of the base plate.
This device has a number of disadvantages. First, the actuation of the detent on the protruding portion of the adjustment wedge and its engagement may cause an undesired movement of the adjustment wedge. The lateral insertion of the adjustment wedge subjects the guide rail to an undesirable bending load, which brings with it the danger that the detent becomes disengaged, and the wedging load is effective essentially only along a linear contact. It is not possible simply to release the detent from the guide rail, to remove the drawer and then to attach it again. Rather, before this attachment, the adjustment wedge must be re-set from the possible engagement position with the guide rail, the engagement must be effected and finally the drawer must be properly adjusted by laterally inserting the adjustment wedge, which produces the above-mentioned disadvantages and causes considerable difficulties for the unskilled user.